Cranberry Upside-Down Cake

T-minus 16 days until Thanksgiving! How is your menu coming along? When I stumbled upon this cake a couple of weeks ago I immediately thought that it would make a great Thanksgiving (or Christmas, if you’re really planning ahead!) dessert; a perfect alternative to the traditional pumpkin and pecan pies. It’s festive and includes traditional flavors, but in a different form. I made a pineapple upside-down cake a couple of summers ago, and absolutely loved it. From the caramelized topping to the moist and buttery cake, I couldn’t wait to experiment with more varieties. The best part? This cake took less than 20 minutes to get into the oven, and uses very little kitchen equipment. This is a weak-in-the-knees cake. Buttery and delicious, topped with sweetly spiced, slightly tart cranberries. The perfect balance of flavors… ’tis the season!

A quick note on the recipe – my cake did stick a little bit on one side when I turned it out of the pan, so I had to push it back together. No biggie. Gives it character (and it tastes just as good!). Just be aware that because of the amount of sugar sitting on the bottom of the cake pan, even with a generous buttering, you could still experience some sticking when you turn the cake out. Embrace the imperfections 🙂

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

2. Rub the bottom and sides of an 8-inch cake pan with 2 tablespoons of the unsalted butter (it will be a really thick layer of butter). In a small bowl, stir together ½ cup of the granulated sugar with the cinnamon and allspice. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the bottom of the pan. Arrange the cranberries in a single layer on top of the sugar mixture.

3. Using an electric mixer, cream together the remaining 6 tablespoons of butter and ½ cup of granulated sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, and beat until well combined. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk, until well combined.

4. Spoon the batter over the cranberries in the pan, and smooth the top. Bake until a thin knife inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the cake; invert onto a rimmed platter. Store any leftovers at room temperature.

Lovely, pictures and recipe both. My mom used to make a similar recipe with a cup of flour, a cup of sugar, one egg, and the cranberries – a little tart but delish. Will be trying this come the weekend, with a little ice cream or whipped cream, perhaps!

Ooh, that looks beautiful! This year’s going to be a quiet one at our house, so I’m just making apple pie and some homemade vanilla ice cream. Thanksgiving just wouldn’t right without it! But 16 days? I’d better get cracking on everything else!

I just had to comment to tell you how amazing that looks! I’ve been sitting here staring at it, wondering how soon I can get to the store to buy cranberries so that I can make it! Thanks for the always-amazing recipes!

I was just debating whether or not to make this cake again this year, as I’ve made it for the last two Thanksgivings. Just seeing the picture makes me wonder what I was thinking…of course it’s gonna be on the dessert table! Plus, somehow the cake seems to get even the next day as it sits in the fridge, melding the flavors together. Thanks for clarity!!!

I made this an hour (the time it took the butter to be at room temp) after I read it. I substituted almond extract for the vanilla extract. It was so delicious! Thanks for the recipe. This is something I’d definitely do again.

Wondering if you could make it in a bunt pan to make it come out like a wreath? I’ve only made pineapple upside down cake once but not sure how it would come out in a tube-type or bunt pan. Anyone know?
Thanks!

I can’t wait for Thanksgiving either. I guess I am too excited. This upside down cake is indeed a perfect festive dessert. Everyone will be looking forward to this treat. Happy Holidays! Thanks for posting this!

As I was reading your post and admiring the picture I kept thinking….this reminds me of the cake from the martha stewart magazine I have saved from years ago…then I saw it was adapted from her. I guess if it made enough of an impression on me to remember and on YOU to make you weak in the knees…it’s time to make it!

Awesome cake batter! Together with the cranberries it is tartly addicting. I plan on making your apple crisp for Thanksgiving. I made this cake following the recipe on my iPhone and I don’t know how you regularly do that! Love your blog though: )

I’m going to try this next week for a gathering of friends and I think I will try lining the pan with parchment or wax paper, heavily buttered. Maybe that will help the sticking. Hope so because I really want it to look as good as I know it will taste.

This recipe looks phenomenal! As the weather gets chilly, I am craving all the flavors of fall and cranberry happens to be one of my favorites. I’m a big fan a cranberry and orange together. What do you think about adding orange zest to the cake batter? I also like the idea of embracing the imperfections during the holidays, a time when the pressure for perfection is definitely on! 🙂

Wow! Love the look of this. Do you think it would be good with more of a cornmeal/cornbread type base? I love the idea of serving it as more of a savory than a sweet dish with the rest of the Thanksgiving spread…

I used a springform pan for mine when I made it. It has that nonstick coating in it and with that and following the butter instructions in the recipe it came out so easy. Didn’t even have to use a knife or parchment paper. I recommend the springform pan, it went really smooth for me with the take out. Only one little cranberry piece in the middle fell off.

Coming from a baking student who just recently found her passion for baking, who seems to have a knack for baking):

Have you ever considered turning the cake upside sooner to when you take it out of the oven? I just made angel food and chiffon cakes in class last week (had to redo them a few times and I took the time to do them all by hand, even with mixers around). We baked those cakes and then turned them upside down right out of the oven. I understand this cake needs to settle the juices a bit. But perhaps turning it over sooner would make it easier to get out.

I Just made this recipe and my darling husband, giver that he is, threw himself onto the sword and had some. Let me tell you….This is so delish! I love that the tartness of the cranberries balances with the subtle sweetness of the cake. This is definately going into my recipe book as a keeper.

I just made this cake. I let it cool for 20 and turned it out on a platter and it looked perfect! Taste wise…..wow….it was tart!!!! What would a good way to be to slightly sweeten the cranberry topping a little???

Hi Becky, Bummer you thought it was too tart! With all the sugar and the sweetness of the cake I found it to be a good balance, but if you want it sweeter I imagine you could use more sugar in the topping.

Another way to sweeten the topping a little bit might be to serve the cake a la mode with a sweet vanilla or sweet cream ice cream, or maybe even with an orange creamsicle style ice cream, instead of adding more sugar to the topping. (when I made the cake, some of the sugar had crystallized further and came off in sheets, so at least in my cake pan, adding more probably wouldn’t have worked).

I just made this cake and it’s wonderful! I used a 8″ iron skillet and it came out perfect. The tart/sweet top with the homemade cake! This was a trial run so now I will service another one for Thanksgiving.

Hi Michelle,
I made this cake last week for a get together with friends and it was a big hit. I took note of your comment that it might stick to the pan and to butter the pan generously. I did, and it unmolded perfectly. Presentation was very nice and the sweet/sour combination of the cranberries and sugar was delightful.

I made this cake this afternoon with my daughter and we both loved it! Def. a keeper for our recipe binder. 🙂 The only changes we made were to use a springform pan and I didn’t have any allspice on hand so we used a little more cinnamon and added some nutmeg. Loved the taste of the cranberries and the texture of the cake. I did a blog post on it and linked it back to this post so you would get the credit you deserve. Thanks for the yummy recipe 🙂

This makes a REALLY thick batter! Which is good, because it allows you to spread it over the cranberries without dislodging them much. One 12-ounce bag of cranberries is just over 3 cups, so I doubled the batter and made two! One for tonight with the family, and one for Saturday when we have “second Thanksgiving” with all my friends.

This is a keeper. Made it this morning for our Thanksgiving Day dinner at Church. We had to set aside some to bring home or we wouldn’t have gotten any! Superb. Will become a staple in my recipe collection.

This cake was delicious and very easy to make! I took it to Thanksgiving dinner yesterday and everyone was impressed! The whole cake was gone in about a half hour. I really enjoyed the tart cranberries with the sweet buttery cake! Thanks for sharing this recipe, I will definitely be making it again!

I have made this recipe three times. I absolutely LOVE cranberries, so the 2nd and third time I added 1 cup extra cranberries. The cake then needs to cook longer, but my husband and I like it even better with the extra cranberries.

Made this cake this morning, and it was fabulous! I added zest from one orange and baked it in a spring form pan lined with a piece of parchment to make getting it out after the flip easier – not a single cranberry got stuck!

Do you think you could substitute blueberries for this recipe? If so, would you use fresh or frozen? My only concern is that the fresh would get too mushy. I wanted to make this to take to a friend’s house this weekend but since cranberries aren’t in season I was trying to think of a good Spring alternative 🙂 Please let me know, thanks!

Made this yesterday (I really appreciated the “one year ago… two years ago..” links!). Wonderful flavors and appearance but I was put off by the mouth feel of grainy sugar in the topping. Did anyone else experience this? Next time, I think I’ll cook the sugar and butter beforehand. And on another note, since this was just a dry run for Thanksgiving, I used cranberries I had frozen in late 2006! They had been packaged using a Food Saver – that is one amazing gizmo! They were juicier than fresh, which is to be expected, but the flavor had not been compromised in the least.

Its soundds delliciouuss!!i was just wondering if i could substitute the cranberry with strawberries since i cant find any other type of berries here …fresh or frozen!
Or if i used oceanspray pie.filling..would that work?

I learned this trick from Cooks Illustrated. Grease, flour, add parchment paper, and spray that with PAM. Run a knife around the edges before turning it over to take out of the pan. Viola. No sticking. This was specifically for Cranberry Upsidedown Cake.

Reviews

Questions

welcome to brown eyed baker!

Hello and welcome to this delicious little corner of the web! Here you'll find approachable recipes for desserts, comfort foods and easy dinners.

I reside in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with my husband, our two sons, and Golden Retriever.